•But treasury looters deserve stiff and long jail terms, after a swift but fair trial
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), led by its President, Ayuba Wabba and Trade Union Congress (TUC), under its President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama, have thrown their weight behind President Buhari’s fight against corruption.
At a rally both Labour movements held on September 10 in Abuja, not only did they advocate jail terms for looters, they also called for capital punishment for corrupt officials, as obtained in China and India.
Mr. Wabba noted that corruption had badly damaged the core of Nigeria’s national existence, which called for a decisive action to prevent the nation from the brink of disaster.
On the NLC’s support of capital punishment for corrupt Nigerians, Mr. Wabba said, “if such capital punishment can happen in China, India and South Africa, it can also happen in Nigeria; whatever measure that will address the issue of this mind-boggling corruption in the country, NLC will support it”.
Mr. Wabba was particularly sad because he felt that massive corruption in the polity had deprived Nigerians good standard of living, and therefore supports the establishment of anti-corruption courts to try cases of corruption in the country. He then asked the Federal Government “to ensure that all the funds illegally looted from the treasury are traced and the looters brought to book”.
TUC’s Mr. Kaigama, on his part, was especially worried about the inability of governors to pay workers for months on end, while pointing out that Nigeria had not experienced such long bouts of salary non-payments in the last 20 years. He said that state governments had to rely on federal bailouts, before they could pay monthly salaries, was very bad, sad and scary.
Comrade Kaigame declared: This sad scenario “is due to massive corruption in the country”. He therefore supports the enactment of laws for fighting corruption, and also that all public officers must declare their assets henceforth. Calling for special anti-corruption courts, Mr. Kaigama called for the abolition of joint accounts for states and local governments, adding that such accounts are often abused by state governments.
Organised Labour’s rather grim view on corruption is understandable. The high level of corruption in Nigeria today is abhorrent. Its spread and scope are alarming and threatening.
Given the danger corruption poses to our survival as a people, and how it has promoted poverty and underdevelopment, we quite sympathize with Labour’s stand, canvassing death penalty for those found guilty of corruption.
Still, we are philosophically opposed to death penalty — not for corruption alone but for any offence.
First, we believe death penalty is not the solution, although it would appear to send out dire signals to would-be looters. So, instead of killing the corrupt — and given the epidemic, the number of the doomed will add up to a tidy sum — they should be jailed after conviction, and their loots recovered.
So, nobody found guilty of looting should be allowed to go scot free to enjoy his/her loot. But this can only be effective if the trial system is fast and swift, without losing the rigour of prosecution, and fairness of trial. That way, the acused, the immediate victims of his sleaze and the general society will get justice. The moment looters of the public till know they face long years in jail, with its attendant shame and disgrace, we will start getting positive change.
Still, even with a fair, fast and credible judicial process, prevention is still better than cure. So, we advise iron-clad preventive measures, that makes it almost impossible to steal public funds, not to talk of escaping with the loot.
‘We are philosophically opposed to death penalty — not for corruption alone but for any offence’
It is good and appropriate that the NLC, as a pressure group that should at all time keep government on its toes in a democracy, is back to its crusading turf. But while we appreciate the effort of the NLC in its support of the fight against corruption by the Buhari administration, we advise that Organised Labour should sustain its regained crusading zest.
In order to be credible and convincing and therefore effective, we believe that charity must begin at home. That means the NLC must put its house in order, doing some soul-searching and self-cleansing, so as to rid its own rank of corruption.
Anything short of this would surely weaken the credibility of the NLC and the TUC in their welcome support for President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.
